West Indies crush Zimbabwe to take series lead

Zimbabwe suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of West Indies in the third ODI at Antigua on Wednesday.

Impressive Bowling Efficiency helped West Indies beat Zimbabwe by 141 runs in the third ODI and the host now lead the five-match series 2-1.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, the hosts got off to a cautious start and added just 36 runs in the Quick start overs but ensured that all their wickets were intact. They were struggling to keep the score board ticking and eventually lost the wicket of Chris Gayle in the 16th over. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin, who was promoted up the order shared a 65-run partnership for the third wicket and put West Indies in a strong position ahead of the Extreme Performance overs. The hosts were in a position to go after every ball, with six wickets still intact. They managed to dominate the Zimbabwe bowling and added 92 runs in that period before finishing with 245 for nine at the end of their 50 overs.

Zimbabwe’s run chase suffered an early setback as they lost Vusimusi Sibanda in the first over. Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza pulled things back for the visitors with a 51 run stand for the second wicket. But Taylor threw his wicket at the end of the First Power Play and things took an ugly turn. The West Indian quicks were at their best and kept hitting the right areas, which made it difficult for the batsmen to settle in. The visitors lost another three wickets in the next four overs which meant half their side was back in the hut before the completion of 15 overs. The Windies kept coming at the Zimbabwe batsmen and picked up wickets at regular intervals before bowling Zimbabwe out for just 104 in just 31.5 overs. Darren Sammy was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets for just 26 runs off his ten overs and a Bowling Efficiency of 462.

Sammy was rightly adjudged the Man of the Match for an excellent display for pace seam bowling.